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Friday, June 11, 2004
new review: buddha vol 1: kapilavastu by osamu tezuka
first of a two-part double-header celebrating one of the artform's great works!
"Osamu Tezuka is to Japanese manga what Will Eisner is to the American graphic novel. Both began in the trenches doing genre work, and over decades of production, expanded their focus to increasingly diverse and challenging material. I'd posit that Tezuka is even more adventurous than Eisner, moving from the simplistic adventures of a boy robot (Astro Boy) to more complex sci-fi (Phoenix), while also tackling such topics as the life and death of a dictator (the Adolf series).
"And then there is BUDDHA. A multi-volume retelling of the life of the Buddha, mixing historical text with fanciful fiction for a daring exploration of a religious figure unlike anything literature, much less comic books, has ever seen."
(more from jamie s. rich)
posted by peter! 12:03 PM EST permalink
Thursday, June 10, 2004
the mirror of love: alan moore and jose villarrubia's illustrated poetry tour de force the mirror of love hits stores this week, which top shelf describes as "an absolutely groundbreaking
masterpiece that beautifully recounts the history of same-sex love." i got to see an advance of this and i agree that it's pretty jaw-dropping.
"The only way to go to war with hate is to love. The Mirror of Love is the great weapon in our arsenal. Not only does it elegantly and profoundly tell our history, it gives us a perfect reflection of our immense beauty. Moore and Villarrubia weave a remarkable tapestry, in words and images, that captures with precision the ecclesiastical and ecstatic capabilities of the human heart."
-- Margaret Cho
"The Mirror of Love is a unique, beautiful and immensely powerful marriage of voice and vision, fact and feeling. Part testament, part history, part celebration, it belongs on everybody's bedside table, gay, straight or undecided. Wonderful."
-- Clive Barker
posted by peter! 11:54 AM EST permalink
drawing with lieber: comic book artist steve lieber will be at the tigard library in oregon later this month. from the oregonian:
"A cartooning workshop with Steve Lieber, author of graphic novels On the Road to Perdition and Whiteout, will demonstrate drawing techniques for artists of all abilities 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on June 25."
posted by peter! 11:48 AM EST permalink
rent girl: some of the details of laurenn mccubbin's new graphic novel collaboration with writer michelle tea are available at amazon.com:
"Like Phoebe Gloeckner's Diary of a Teenage Girl, Michelle Tea's Rent Girl is an illustrated novel about a young dyke's adventures in and out of the sex industry on both the East and West Coasts. A side story to Tea's other novels, The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America and Valencia, this book explores in depth her ambivalence to the sex industry, which she found to be an exciting outlaw occupation one minute and a traumatic existential nightmare the next."
laurenn's the co-creator of xxxlivenudegirls as well as the original artbomb webcomic harvest gypsy. here's the cover to look for this july:
posted by peter! 11:39 AM EST permalink
the fallen: in time for halloween this year, nbm publishing will be releasing the second volume of miran kim and david aaron clark's the fallen trilogy featuring art by david rankin:
"Tattoo artist John Savory witnesses the rise in power of a silent underground of vampires in the leading edge art neighborhoods of New York City. But who is he really? After Miran Kim, presenting the stunning photo collage art of David Rankin to continue this goth opera trilogy. The cover has already been nominated for the Spectrum Awards." (SC, 48pp, color, $10.95)
"Urban Goth born in the gutter and reared in the dungeon, The Fallen is an unholy marriage of Miran Kim's visionary perversity and the deviant genius of David Aaron Clark. Evil has never been sexier."
-- Carlo McCormick, Senior Editor, PAPER magazine
posted by peter! 11:33 AM EST permalink
"graphic novels are good for you."
posted by peter! 11:32 AM EST permalink
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
bicycle: sonny liew has posted pages from malinky robot #2 to his website. beautiful stuff.
posted by peter! 11:21 AM EST permalink
don't call it manga: the berkeley east bay express takes a look at the chinese comic book form of manhua: "They're painstakingly rendered, excessively verbose, and display a lyricism that must surely bore a portion of their target audience. They deal almost exclusively in abstruse dynastic struggles in the Middle Kingdom. Sure, the kung fu is fun, but the sex that has become an irreplaceable staple of the genre is nonexistent, or gummed up with sentiment. They're manhua, or Chinese comic books. Millions of Chinese readers hang on every issue, but few Americans have heard of them. Nonetheless, Robin Kuo has sunk a small fortune into the proposition that American readers will devour them..."
posted by peter! 11:15 AM EST permalink
danger zone: the florida news-press exposes the inner workings of the comics guarantee corp (cgc), protecting comics from fanboys the world over: "The whole process can cost as little as $12 for a newer comic. As the value of a comic goes up, so does the charge by CGC to grade it. A comic worth more than $4,000 will cost the owner at least $88 to have it graded. 'It's the cheapest insurance policy on the planet,' Borock says. The only catch: Now no one can read the comic. That's part of the deal. Look, but don't touch."
yeah, sounds like a real fun hobby...
posted by peter! 11:09 AM EST permalink
monster mash: michael t. gilbert interviews himself over at cbr.com today and talks about the return of mr. monster from atomeka press this fall: "Frankly, Dave Elliott, Garry Leach and that new boy, Ross Richie at Atomeka Press are placing their very lives at risk by publishing the unvarnished truth in 'Mister Monster: Worlds War Two!' Elliott and Leach are the chaps behind A-1 magazine, you know. Good fellows, those, even if they're not Americans!"
(looks like cbr also caught up with steve niles earlier in the week.)
posted by peter! 11:02 AM EST permalink
fox box: the popular manga series one piece is springing from the pages of shonen jump to the small screen this fall as an animated series. from animationinsider: "Created by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece was introduced in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump, which has a weekly circulation of three million, in 1997. One Piece graphic novels in Japan have sold more than 100 million copies in 33 volumes. It has already gained a wide fan base in the U.S. through the monthly Shonen Jump magazine, as well as the four graphic novels that have been released to date by VIZ, LLC."
fox also announced the acquisition of tokyo mew mew for fall release: "This Japanese animated property follows the adventures of five girls who possess the powers of endangered animals. They must battle aliens who want to destroy mankind — when they're not busy with homework and boyfriends, that is."
posted by peter! 10:56 AM EST permalink
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
global frequency: comicbookresources caught up with the producers of the upcoming global frequency television show, based on the comics from warren ellis: "The producers of Global Frequency thought the best way to maintain Warren Ellis's creative vision was to keep him informed and ask for his input. The notoriously outspoken comics creator was pleased with what he saw. 'Warren saw the draft before anyone else,' said Rogers. 'I was dreading his response. He was very happy with it -- he almost seemed disappointed that I'd deprived him of another reason to hate television -- and I've integrated every idea of his I can into both the pilot and the series. It all sticks pretty closely to the book, so it's not too much of a challenge.'"
posted by peter! 11:32 AM EST permalink
journalista's end: dirk deppey has announced the official end of his infamous journalista blog, which went on hiatus back in february, citing his newfound responsibilies as the editing manager of the comics journal. it's not all doom and gloom as he has plans to continue his insightful and biting commentary. from dirk: "I should note that I'm not entirely abandoning comics commentary. Beginning with The Comics Journal #262, I'll be starting a regular column of industry commentary, which oddly enough will be called Journalista, just one of a number of innovations I plan to bring to a newly revamped TCJ in coming issues. I hope you'll give the magazine a try if you aren't already a regular reader."
posted by peter! 11:20 AM EST permalink
even in fargo: in-forum news of north dakota is reporting that fargo library is undergoing an overhaul with a graphic novel slant: "'It's really an unfriendly place for teens right now,' [Jake Fejedelem] said, surveying the long white table between two book racks, topped with an unembellished, notebook-sized sign reading Teen Section. He wants to get rid of the outdated books – including the rows of Christopher Pike horror novels and Sweet Valley High paperbacks from the 1980s and '90s... Instead, the library needs to stock more nontraditional materials like graphic novels – book-length comic books, often with serious subject matter..."
posted by peter! 11:15 AM EST permalink
diamond books expands to the UK: from the press release received yesterday: "Diamond Book Distributors (DBD) is pleased to announce the expansion of its operations into the United Kingdom and international markets. A division of Diamond Comic Distributors, the world's largest distributor of English-language comic books and graphic novels, DBD is one of the top North American graphic novel distributors... DBD UK will go beyond merely selling its clients' titles. It will function as a complete, full-service outlet, doing order fulfillment, processing, billing, accounting, database management, and all other related tasks on-site."
posted by peter! 11:01 AM EST permalink
kate worley, rip: our heartfelt condolences to the family of kate worley. from newsarama: "While she had most recently made headlines again with her battle against cancer, Omaha the Cat Dancer's creator Kate Worley lost her battle with the disease over the weekend. Worley wrote Omaha while Reed Waller illustrated. Worley was married to Jim (Kings in Disguise) Vance, and together, the couple have two children. She had just recently began work on Omaha again, finishing the story for Les Humanoids."
posted by peter! 10:53 AM EST permalink
Monday, June 07, 2004
urban legend: the taipei times pays tribute to liu hsing-chin, the godfather of taiwanese comics: "In the canon of local-boy-does-good stories, Liu Hsing-chin did the best. He is the godfather of comic books in a nation that can't get enough of comics, and his hometown of Neiwan, Hsinchu County, couldn't do more to honor their local hero short of renaming the town Liuland. The town has the feel of Disneyland except that, instead of Mickey Mouse and Snow White, Neiwan is plastered with images of Liu's most famous inventions, Big Auntie and Ah-San, the country-bumpkin comic strip characters that became Taiwan's favorite and placed Liu, the son of a tea farmer who went to school on the back of a water buffalo, among the nation's most respected and highest-paid artists."
posted by peter! 11:38 AM EST permalink
graphic novel revolution: according to the new icv2.com retailers guide to graphic novels, graphic novels experienced 50% growth last year, blossoming to $165 million retail. they also noted this interesting tidbit as well: "Almost 2/3 of the 2003 sales came in outlets other than comic stores, primarily bookstores, according to the report. Until 2002, most graphic novel sales were made through comic stores."
icv2 has also posted a recap of the past weekend's bookexpo america right here.
posted by peter! 11:30 AM EST permalink
artesia awarded: at bookexpo america this past weekend, mark smylie's artesia was awarded foreword magazine's 2003 graphic novel book of the year award: "Six years ago, ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards was established to bring increased attention to the literary achievements of independent presses and their authors. Mark Smylie, creator of Artesia: 'I really can't believe it. I was just proud to have Artesia picked as a finalist and be mentioned in the same category with such outstanding books. And now for it to be chosen as the Gold level winner... It's both gratifying and exciting to have my work honored by ForeWord Magazine's selection committee.'"
posted by peter! 11:22 AM EST permalink
mr. stripdagen haarlem: lewis trondheim was awarded the vpro grand prix at the stripdagen haarlem festival in the netherlands this past weekend for his career contributions, including the recently released graphic novel mister o: "The VPRO Grand Prix is awarded biyearly to the best comics artist active today. The prize entails a sum of E 2.500 (approx. $ 3,000). Plus the winner is invited to act as a guest curator of an exhibition during the next edition of Stripdagen Haarlem. Trondheim chose wordless comics as his Grand Prix exhibition theme, to be seen during the next edition of the biyearly Stripdagen Haarlem, in 2006."
posted by peter! 11:10 AM EST permalink
new review: monkey & spoon by simone lea
"She's a play spoon. He's a stuffed monkey. And not everything is blissful in this marital union of toys strife with silent treatments, anger, miscommunication, and the awkward spaces in-between. Our story opens with a simple dispute over the kitchen table -- as so many of life's encounters do -- a convenient substitution for the issues of importance that have true and lasting impact on our lives. Can this monkey ever learn to listen to his beloved spoon, or will he falter and lose his stuffing once and for all?"
(more)
posted by peter! 11:08 AM EST permalink
Sunday, June 06, 2004
sunday comics: courtesy of the finnish comics society (doesn't look like they've updated in quite awhile, but they've got a good archive right here.)
(thx ingrid)
posted by peter! 10:13 PM EST permalink
archives:
11/30/2003 - 12/06/2003
12/07/2003 - 12/13/2003
12/14/2003 - 12/20/2003
12/21/2003 - 12/27/2003
12/28/2003 - 01/03/2004
01/04/2004 - 01/10/2004
01/11/2004 - 01/17/2004
01/18/2004 - 01/24/2004
01/25/2004 - 01/31/2004
02/01/2004 - 02/07/2004
02/08/2004 - 02/14/2004
02/15/2004 - 02/21/2004
02/22/2004 - 02/28/2004
02/29/2004 - 03/06/2004
03/07/2004 - 03/13/2004
03/14/2004 - 03/20/2004
03/21/2004 - 03/27/2004
03/28/2004 - 04/03/2004
04/04/2004 - 04/10/2004
04/11/2004 - 04/17/2004
04/18/2004 - 04/24/2004
04/25/2004 - 05/01/2004
05/02/2004 - 05/08/2004
05/09/2004 - 05/15/2004
05/16/2004 - 05/22/2004
05/23/2004 - 05/29/2004
05/30/2004 - 06/05/2004
06/06/2004 - 06/12/2004
06/13/2004 - 06/19/2004
06/20/2004 - 06/26/2004
06/27/2004 - 07/03/2004
07/04/2004 - 07/10/2004
07/11/2004 - 07/17/2004
07/18/2004 - 07/24/2004
07/25/2004 - 07/31/2004
08/01/2004 - 08/07/2004
08/08/2004 - 08/14/2004
08/15/2004 - 08/21/2004
08/22/2004 - 08/28/2004
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